This blog is a place that showcases the hobby in its many and varied games and products. A haven for those of us who want to see more of what the hobby has available and don't want to have to search though the static to find it.

Monday, January 25, 2016

Chief Thunderbringer
Chief Thunderbringer did not set out to create a tribe. She doesn't need minions. Hell, she doesn't even need backup. But her strength of conviction in favor of a simpler time, her courage, and her intense natural charisma seem to draw people to her like some old world guru. She speaks, and people listen. She walks, and people follow. Maybe they are drawn to her sense of self-reliance, to the independence that comes with freeing oneself from the over-advanced technology that caused all this mess. Or maybe they really believe that massive weapon she carries is magical. Regardless, when the boss charges at the enemy like a raging bull, they follow. (model: Helle Moller, Hell Dorado)

Distant Thunder A bit of a weird sort, Clarice took the name Distant Thunder when she met Thunderbringer. She claims it's a reference to some old book, but no one knows what she's talking about, nor do they understand the big monstrosity of a weapon she carries. But they are sure an effective pair. Clarice used to be part of the Venus Outpost, but she saw the same old ways that she feels got us into this mess, so when Thunderbringer came and spoke of a return to the earth, she embraced it. She's still a bit of a city girl at heart. She doesn't much feel inclined to wear leather from kills or hunt with a bow- she still prefers her scavenged machine-made clothes and her high-powered rifle. But she seems to have a great love and loyalty for Thunderbringer and the tribe. Besides, her familiarity with the more urban ways makes her a great Representative for the Tribe, since she speaks both languages. (model: Kali, USX Modern Day Heroes, RAFM)

Nightfire
This war shaman uses a disturbing sense of versatility in battle to confound and defeat his enemies. Naturally both brutal and cunning, mutation has given him the power to Cloud the Minds of his enemies in such a way that their distance attacks are unlikely to harm him and any allies nearby. For some reason, when he is there, no one can get a solid lock on him or anyone standing near him. Sometimes he uses that to turn the exposed vantage point of an archer into a kind of one way mirror, so the archer can aim out from an open vantage point, but no one can aim in. Sometimes he uses it to cover his approaching charge, only to beat on an enemy mercilessly with his large staff. While other tribals still think it's appropriate to use technology that is at least several hundred years old, Nightfire, a fanatical purist, will not touch anything more modern than the earliest metal working skills can provide. (model: Bones, Reaper Miniatures)

Bone Dancer
Bone Dancer is the vengeful spirit of the Stormbringers. She sees the apocalypse as humanity's punishment for its crimes against nature, and of all of the tribe, she is, perhaps, the most angry about it. As such, her bitterness, and the natural sense of insanity that comes with living in the Wasteland, have convinced her that she is an agent of death, brought to the world to avenge the cries of the earth upon those who would harm it. She has very little tolerance for anyone who is not a tribal, for she believes all other humans are a blight upon the earth, and she will not rest until nature is avenged. (model: Maia, Another World Miniatures)

Battering Ram Cleave
A jock and gamer before the apocalypse, Connor's life didn't change much when the world ended, except that now he was actually doing all the stuff he pretended to do in his MMOGs. And now, he can work out all day instead of wasting time at some crummy day job. When the tribe needs him to do chores, he does the heavy lifting. Suits him just fine. Who needs a computer or gaming console when you have the real thing? (model: Bones, Reaper Miniatures)

Stinger of the Rad Wasp
Stinger wasn't always the mighty warrior she is today. Before the world blew up she was a spoiled, rich, girly-girl, whose idea of a catastrophe was a bad hair day. But sometimes the end of the world changes a girl, and since then she's beefed up and traded in her shopping bags and purse for armor and a spear. She still has that natural, pasty skin tone, though. Not that anyone makes fun of her for it anymore. (Model: Unknown)

Little Rad Rat
There's a reason you don't see many kids in the wasteland these days. Most of them don't make it. They don't have the speed, endurance, or street smarts, so unless they have a protector strong enough to keep both of them alive, they sadly perish. But Little Rad Rat is a natural street urchin. Thunderbringer saw her making it on her own one day, and was impressed. But Rat is also smart enough to know that being part of a team has its advantages, so when Thunderbringer flashed her a little half smile, she tagged along and eventually came to be accepted as a full-fledged member of the tribe. She has yet to prove her skills on the battlefield, but she never needs rescuing either, and is very handy when getting through small spaces is a necessity. (Model- Reaper Bones)

Fangs
What else would you call a giant spider? Fortunately, this one is on our side- if you're a Stormbringer. The tribals have this unnerving capacity to attract loyal animals from the wastes. The Stormbringers are no exception. They refer to them as "totems". You you get used to them wandering around the camp- eventually. (Model- Reaper Bones)

So, having some free time on our Thanksgiving Holiday, Ali and I decided to get in a game for our This Is Not A Test campaign, with a decidedly festive bend. After all, what better way to celebrate the holidays in the Wasteland than with a Tribals vs. Settlers battle report?

Friday, November 27, 2015

Well, I promised you a grand finale, and here it is! A whopping 11 more models to finish off my Post-Octopalypse painting challenge, bringing my personal number to... A lot, and the club total to even more.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Well, it's the end of the third week of our Post-Octopalypse, and considering I was only expecting to get everybody to "table-ready", I am very pleased to report that I got enough figures to that stage to feel safe bringing you FIVE completely done minis this week, all for my "This is Not a Test" Tribals- which are called the Stormbringers, hence the article title, in case you were wondering.

Ok, I've never tried writing a battle report before, but I figured I'd try it, since the game was only 300 points and it made a good story. So here goes- let me know what you think!

It's week two, and we're still at 300 points, but today, instead of kill'em all, we can actually only score points with secondary objective cards. I was really frustrated with the uselessness of the Coils last time (the 3 of them only killed 1 model total, and didn't move far, while Michael flew across the field and took out the other 4), so I decided to go the other way, and just bring 2 archangels, hoping that wouldn't bite me in the arse for objective running. TOG, who also likes to play big guys, brought only 4 models- 3 mercs and one sidekick to a merc. That's 6 models in all for the whole game ::lol::

Round One: Yeah, yeah, yeah, everybody moves, and you can't collect objective points anyway. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, my approach is to start moving my guys to where they can obtain a point for my first objective in Round 2: Advance: Have everybody in No Man's Land at the end of the turn. Not too hard since I only have 2 guys. I am assuming my esteemed opponent is doing the same- moving towards objectives.

Round Two: TOG charges right in with Phadros, slashing at Gabriel from two inches away, because he figures (quite correctly) that leaving that jerk on the field any longer than necessary is a bad idea. He does one point of damage out of three. Gabriel retaliates by smacking him with the Angelic Choir, both stunning him and knocking him prone, because Gabriel's a punk.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the field, Michael can't aim for Lucky, who is just out of range, so he shoots at Maximo, hitting Lucky anyway since it's a blast template, and doing 1 point. Ironically he does not kill the 1 health point sidekick, who makes both his armor saves, but now they are both on fire, which always becomes important later.
Lucky retaliates by hitting Michael and blinding him, like she does. Yeah, that whopping 4 point deficit to your AS is definitely annoying.
Blade runs over to join in on tag-teaming Gabriel, sliding in at the edge of an objective marker hoping to score his team some points, but does not have enough actions left to hurt the big punk.

Round 3: Phadros wastes so much energy getting back on his feet that he can't finish off Gabriel (because Gabriel's a punk). Rather than let Blades also get a shot off on him, Gabriel smacks him point blank with a face-full of Angelic Choir, which sounds bad enough, but really it was Blades' unfortunate crit-failing of his armor save that did him in. He apparently leaned into it, and took both his hit points at once, having had no chance at all to show off. Sucks to be you, Blades. Michael, who has always been the slugger of the Heavenly Host, decides that he'd better come to Gabriel's aid, vaulting in at a 90 degree angle to Gabriel so Gabriel can still use the Angelic Choir if he needs to. Unfortunately, Michael is not able to finish off the massive Phadros, which is only a problem because I have won initiative maybe 5 times in my entire life. What were the other two busy doing this round? Well, Lucky, who remembered that she was on fire, spent the round putting herself out so she wouldn't burn to death, while Maximo, who forgot he was on fire, tried to attack Michael and merely succeeded in immolating himself. (Fire, bad!)

Round 4: TOG wins initiative (big surprise) and activates Phadros (big surprise) who finishes off Gabriel (big surprise), who explodes, like he does. The blast did one point of damage to both Michael (oops, I guess that 90 degree angle wasn’t the right pick) and Phadros, who alas only had one left… because Gabriel's a punk.

So now it's my activation, and I have one guy left- so does TOG, but mine is bigger- and can get within melee range. What was the lesson of week one, kiddies? Don't get into melee with Michael, especially if you're a ranged specialist. Michael vaults in on Lucky, charging her with his massive bonuses. She gets a free melee attack on him and tries to plunk him with the butt of her pistol, but it's like a kid with a pinata stick beating on a mech. He finishes her off with his usual brutality.

Mind you, this week was all about those objective cards, and at this point he had 3 cards to my one, but I got lucky with pulls, and ended up with 4, since you keep playing it out through round 8.

So there was the fight, but the really brutal part was the after-game campaign rolls. Gabriel walks away without a scratch, while the guy that killed him (subsequently getting himself blown up in the process) rolls a crit-fail and is out for 3 games. Because Gabriel's a punk. To make matters worse, Lucky and Blades roll just as badly. Ouch. The biggest problem with that is TOG's entire force is based on having 8 or 9 big mercenaries, and he's already down 3 for the next 3 games. At this rate, he may very well end up with a game in which he cannot fill his points allotment, which is generally not good for one's campaign score.

So, let's recap. Week one, the moral of the story is: Don't Melee with Michael. Week Two, the moral of the story is: Gabriel's a punk. Honestly, TOG really likes that about Gabriel. He's thinking about making a Gabriel and the Banes crew- the version I resisted, 'cause they're a bunch of punks.